PERFORMANCE OF CREEP FEED LAMBS, FINISHED UNDER FEEDLOT OR Brachiaria brizantha DEFERRED PASTURE: GASTRINTESTINAL PARASITISM AND BIOECONOMIC EFFICIENCY

Abstract The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effect of creep feeding and drylots or semi confined raised lambs on weight gain, gastrointestinal nematodes infection and economic viability. Lambs from six lots of 30 ewes were weighed at birth and at weaning and the offspring of three lots were supplemented in private troughs and their food intake was measured. In the second phase, after weaning, lambs were divided into two finishing groups, feedlot or semi confinement considering gender, weaning weight and creep feeding. All animals were dewormed at early termination, weighed every 14 days and supplemented with 2% of body weight. Feedlot animals received sorghum silage while semi confined animals were kept at pasture on Brachiaria brizantha cv Piata. Creep feeding had effect on weight and weight gain at weaning and finishing, but favorable economic returns were only observed at termination. Pasture deferred in the semi-confinement system controlled verminosis, preventing deaths with no differences in weight and weight gain among feedlots or semi-confined lambs. Both systems were economically viable, but profit in semi confinement was 2.3 times higher than the feedlots.